Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear Solid games have famously deep storylines, flitting backwards and forwards through a complex timeline, juggling a cast of outlandish characters along the way. Although the next game in the series is called Metal Gear Solid V, it's actually set after Metal Gear Solid 3 and before all the other titles.
Needless to say, Kojima is sure that his dedicated fans will find some wrinkles in the plot as a result. "I'm pretty sure that the guys at Star Wars had the same issues," he told Kotaku. "When you try to write something that was supposed to be in the middle there will be some inconsistencies when you go into very small details."
"The most important part is writing something that is fun, something that is impressive, something that is better than it was before. So sometimes in the interest of doing this, of having a better experience, we sacrifice some consistencies in the story. I hope the fans and players understand this, but I need to write the best we can, even if there are some small discrepancies."
Metal Gear Solid 5 breaks from series tradition, with an open world structure alongside the expected stealth gameplay. It will also take the form of two separate releases. The prologue section, The Phantom Pain, is out in Spring 2014 for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One at a budget price. That will be followed by a larger game, Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, which tells the main story.